A mixture of Excitement and Fears

This post is written in the Changi Airport Terminal 3 Ambassador’s Transit Lounge while waiting to board the plane. Breakfast is simple porridge and lounge is half filled at 5am. Been wanting to visit these lounges for ages and finally manifested complimentary access vouchers in May.

Re-watched The Bucket List movie recently and reviewed my bucket list to-dos in North and South America. Since it may be my only trip to these 2 continents, I want to check off the must-dos during this trip. The purpose is to create memories here to remember by in old age.

Must-Do:

~ Play in Disney World in Florida and/or Disneyland in Los Angeles

~ Immerse in Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

~ Stay at a beach in Hawaii

~ Fly over and/or set foot in the Amazon Rainforest

~ Explore NYC Central Park in Manhattan

~ Watch a Broadway Show in NYC

~ Visit Hollywood and/or Beverly Hills

~ Cruise around the Caribbean

~ Eat something from a Nutella Bar

~ Have a meal in NYC Central Perk Café

~ Take the 23andMe test

~ Dine (if got promo and budget then stay a night) at Trump hotel

Like-To-Do:

~ Visit more than 30 Gardens and National Parks

~ Visit more than 30 Science-related centres and museums

~ Take a photo with famous women, hopefully Ivanka Trump and Jessica Alba

~ Explore the Smithsonian Institution at Washington D.C.

~ Check out The International DOTA 2 Championship Secret Shop in Seattle

~ Walk on the Bolivia salt flats

~ Stay in the treehouse at Costa Rica

~ Visit Silicon Valley and Google Complex

~ See a Dinosaur Park that is less dangerous than Jurassic World

~ Enjoy a majestic waterfall (possibly Niagara Falls)

~ Catch a glimpse of Northern Lights

~ Go on Steve Jobs’s Venus iYacht if it is allowed and docked within North America

In June, I left a job I loved. The inspiration to quit came when a crazy customer yelled at me “GET OUT OF HERE!” at work. She threatened to sue me and wrote to my CEO and bosses to get me fired for being rude. To remember the incident, I submitted the letter on the same date a year later.

In May, my ex-boyfriend of 25-months realised he did not love me wholeheartedly and thought our personalities are not compatible. So we decided to enjoy our last month together and part amiably as friends. Although I feel sad and disappointed, I am grateful for his love and wish him the best.

Had a couple of health scares in the last few years to remind me on life’s fragility. Dying is not scary, but not living fully is. Everyday alive has been a blessing, I just want to live a little longer than my parents so they never need to live with losing their daughter.

At this cross-junction in life, I feel fearful of the uncertainties, but excited by the possibilities. Since 30s is the new 20s, life gets better now that we are mature enough to know what we want, have a bit more wisdom on how to get them and still young enough to give new experiences a try.

Wanted to go on a 1-year round-the-world trip but travel insurance in Singapore covers 182 days max and different zones. The international coverage per annum costs more than SGD3000 and claims are too complicated as the company is based overseas.

Bought a one-way ticket on Monday afternoon to see where life takes me. Prepared a small budget for this trip and brought sleeping bag for camping in airports (like Tom Hanks in The Terminal). The challenge of this trip is to get out of comfort zone and become more resourceful.

One check-in rolley luggage and one carry-on backpack with a total of 28kg. Since will be on the move, it is better to travel as light as possible. Not sure what type of terrain and all, preferably no need to covert the versatile rolley luggage to backpack.

Realised I dropped the MiBand during check-in, but found it lying on roadside 20minutes later. Super impressed with XiaoMi now coz it had tyre marks on the band but still works! Felt sad about the loss at first, now it felt like signs of miracles.

  

For the first time ever, I finally have no work, no debts, no liabilities, no commitments, a little savings, fair bit of energy, and a lot of time. Although I somewhat planned for this 12 years ago, the stars must have aligned for this fortunate situation.

What is the worst that can happen? Run out of cash, shorten the trip, come back to Singapore and get a job again. Or find out I am terminally ill with not much time left to live. Since ‘You Only Live Once’, might as well take the road less travelled if that is the way to live authentically.

We are taught to pursue money for experiences/things and freedom of options/choices, but what we really want are access to nice things and control in our life.